An early sheep dip MUSEUM OF NATURE

Press, 11 June 1977, Page 14

An early sheep dip MUSEUM OF NATURE

Contributed by

MICHAEL TROTTER,

on behalf of Canterbury Museum.

Archaeology in New Zealand it generally thought of in reference to the Maori settlement of the country. But many aspects of early European settlement require the techniques of the archaeologist to elucidate. Sometimes such an investigation may have a largely practical purpose. The location of nine early European graves in a block of land off Withells Road is a case in point. Although at least four graves were known to occur in the section, their exact positions were unknown. and regulations prevent such land from being developed until the remains are reburied elsewhere. On other occasions, however, research may be undertaken on a site to obtain information about

certain aspects of the past that have net been adequately documented. In an article in “The Press” on August 21. 1971, a contributor illustrated an old stone fireplace near

Evans Pass as the remains of an early stockman’s cottage. When members of the Canterbury Museum Archaeological Society inspected this fireplace in the course of recording historic and prehistoricsites in the area, it was fairly obvious that it was not the remains of any cottage fireplace. But what

was it? There was another fireplace alongside, and a series of stone walls, hollows, and platforms nearby.

Over a period of some months members of the society have worked on the site at odd week-ends, clearing away long grass, measuring photographing and mapping, and they have also done research in the museum’s archives.

What they have discovered is one of the earliest sheep dips in Canterbury. The hollow of the dip itself, which was dug into the ground, is still clearly visible. Near it is a double fireplace on which two tanks of dipping solution — basically tobacco in water — were boiled up. The water was obtained from nearby springs. When one tank was ready and cooled, the

liquid was let into the dip, while the other was being heated. Sheep were mustered into a holding pen constructed of a low’ stone wall, surmounted by a post-and-wire or rail fence.

After dipping, the sheep were held in a small draining pen which had a sloping wooden floor to direct the draining solution back into the dip. The wood from which this floor was constructed has long since rotted away, but the nails have remained as small nodules of rust in the ground. To locate the positions of the nails without extensive excavations, engineers of the New Zealand Army assisted with the use of a sensitive metal detector, enabling the size and shape of the draining board to be determined.

On a flattened shelf on the hill slope a rough shelter had been constructed. Excavation revealed the positions of holes for wall uprights and a fireplace. In the packed earthen floor were remains of some broken bottles, the lid of an early type of paint tin, some pieces of rusted- iron, and a small, . pencil-shaped object of lead, the use of which is as yet unknown.

Although the exact date for this dip is not known, it was probably used mainly in the 1860 s, a time when scab disease was prevalent in Canterbury sheep. The proximity of the dip to the regular landing place in Gollons Bay suggests that sheep might have been dipped there before they were released on to the local sheep runs.